The Queen is Coming to Visit
by RainbowDitoo
Summary: The Oni Queen is conquering every realm she can, it only makes sense that she'd go for Knighton. The knights are going to have to get a little help if they're going to survive this one, good thing Ninjago is full of help. ((Takes place during season 10 of ninjago, Tommy Andreason sucks and I hated the Oni arc so it's my city now))
1. Chapter 1

Clay wasn't sure what he was seeing. Blackness, spreading across the countryside, enveloping everything in fog so thick and so dark that it looked like a wall. When he had gotten the distress signal, he had told the others to stay home, that he would handle it himself.

He had hoped it was his mother. This, however, was nothing like anything he'd ever seen.

It was far away enough that he could watch without fear of it getting to him, not that he knew what would happen if it did. He swallowed down a thick lump that had been growing in his throat. His fingers twitched uncertainly, and eventually he raised his hand to turn on his communication channel.

"Merlock?" He asked, barely able to hide the fearful shaking in his voice, "What is that?"

The other end of the radio fizzled for a second before his uncle's voice cut through.

"I have an idea of what it might be, and if it's what I think it is, then you need to get out of there as fast as possible."

Clay nodded, not remembering that Merlock couldn't see him, and turned towards his jet. His footing was unsteady as he walked. It felt unsafe to be turned away from that black wall of fog, like as soon as he turned his back he would be overwhelmed with it. But the fog stayed in its place, moving forwards at a moderate pace.

* * *

"You've got some explaining to do, Merlock."

All of the knights were now gathered in the capital, sitting together anxiously in what remained of Merlock's library. Ava sat behind a monitor, chewing on a thumbnail as she watched the progress of the black fog from numerous cameras throughout the kingdom.

Lance, who had spoken, had turned away from Merlock. Instead, he was watching as people from all across the country spilled into the capital through the entrance gates. Clay gave him a look, like he wanted to tell Lance off, but was too worried to actually speak.

Merlock wrung his hands together nervously from his podium, "I know, I know." He said, "And I will, but first- Ava, what do you see from the cameras?"

At the question, Ava sighed.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Most of them are out of commission, broken. By something. Not that I know what's breaking them or anything-" She cut herself off with an annoyed grumble, "For the first time in forever, I think I'm stumped."

Merlock nodded at her, inhaled slowly, and let out a nervous huff.

"I think I know what's going on," he started, "Wu had told me long ago about his grandmother's army. An army of darkness, bringers of destruction. I thought he had said that they were sealed away though, and I want to believe him. But the things he told me then and the things happening now line up too much."

Merlock squeezed his eyes closed, "This means terrible, terrible things for Knighton."

"Uncle," Clay stood up, frown on his face, "We've only met Wu once, when the ninja came to Knighton before returning to Ninjago, and even then we barely spoke to him. What do you mean his grandmother's army?"

"Yeah," Lance pitched in, "I'm not fighting anyone's grandmother if I don't have to."

There was a silence for a moment as Merlock collected his thoughts together. The only sounds were from the city below, and Ava flipping through camera views.

Things had finally been looking up for the knights. They had saved the kingdom, Jestro, and the only threat for the past few months had been Ruina. Now this… thing was there. And apparently it involved the ninja. Merlock's hologram flickered once as he got the memories he needed, and then he was gone. In his place, pictures of things that Merlock had seen long ago appeared.

"Wu's grandmother is the Oni Queen, a shapeshifting, all powerful being who controls the darkness in the realms. Wu had told me that she and her army of oni had been locked away by his father, but when she had been at war, her army could turn people to stone. Unlock the darkness of their hearts, and freeze them in place. They'd still be alive, just in a deep, mental sleep."

Nobody saw Clay's fists clench. Nobody saw how his breathing had a slightly broken pace.

"Her evil would cause everything to fall to her command. Only those with oni blood could walk through her black cloud without turning to stone, and that was how Wu's father finally defeated his mother. He was able to trap her into some… some place. I don't exactly know where, Wu never specified."

The images disappeared, replaced with Merlock. Merlock's eyebrows were knit together with a mixture of worry, and fear. Even he didn't notice how his nephew stood completely still.

"I fear that the Queen has broken out of whatever prison had been holding her, and that she is angry. Perhaps she wants vengeance against those who wronged her."

"But why would she want to attack us?" Everyone turned to look at Robin, who's hands fidgeted nervously with a metallic tangle, "If it's revenge she wants, then why doesn't she go after her… her son? Why us?"

Merlock shook his head, at a loss for words. Silence pressed on the group. Outside, a wide frame of black had started spreading across the horizon. More and more people filled the city.

Ava's typing stopped.

"I- I got a working camera." She said, just above a whisper.

Everyone watched as she flipped her monitor's display around to show what she had found. Nobody saw how Clay stopped breathing for a second.

The view was of a city street, Waterton, maybe. There were people strewn about, some fallen over, other's standing. Frozen in a position that said that maybe they had been running from something. The area was covered with a fog, but it was somehow brighter inside the cloud that outside. Something struck all the knights at once. A sad, horrified thought.

When Clay had been turned to stone, he had done so in the middle of a fight. A fight he had been winning. He had frozen in a position that might have been victory, like a memorial. Like something beautifully sad.

These people didn't have that. These people weren't winning, they were losing. They were scared when they were turned, one might even say petrified if they wanted to be funny. It was harsh, and it was scary. Clay collapsed onto the floor, his hands pressed hard into his eyes. There, he shook silently to himself until Macy urged Ava to turn the video feed away.

"I can't do this again-" He croaked to himself, suddenly unaware of the other people in the room, "I don't want to not _feel_ again. I- I don't _want_ this."

The knights shared a glance with each other, and then Aaron was at Clay's side, gently wrapping his arms around Clay's wide shoulders.

"Hey," Aaron said softly, "We're gonna be ok. Nothing's gonna happen to you again, especially not that. We'll figure this out."

He paused before adding, "Take all the time you need, by the way. We're here for you."

Clay nodded into his hands. He wasn't crying, but he was shaken. A bit too much, probably. Aaron rubbed his back a couple of times, before standing up and running his hands through his hair, knocking his headphones down in the process.

The room was quiet. Deadly so. The sounds from outside had quieted considerably so, almost like the people out in the streets could tell that this was a serious situation. A sharp inhale came from Ava, and the knights turned to look at her.

"Something's moving out there." She said, "I think- Oh _god_ what is that?"

She didn't flip the screen around, instead, the knights and Robin squeezed in behind her to watch.

Through the fog, a large black shape moved. It had horns, long and pointed upwards, and stood on two sharpened hooves. Large fangs jutted out from its lower lip, and its eyes glowed an eerie purple in the fog. It turned to look at the camera, and it's eyes narrowed.

With one, clawed hand, it reached out and crunched the camera into pieces. The feed cut out, and silence hung over the room once more.

Macy swallowed, "I don't think… I don't think we're gonna be able to win this one, guys."


	2. Chapter 2

Lloyd sat in his room, chewing on the end of a pencil eraser, and occasionally twirling it through his hair. Homework. The bane of his existence.

After they had rebuilt the monastery, Wu had decided that the Green Ninja, savior of Ninjago, should probably have more than a 4th grade education. Which was a little hypocritical of him considering that Kai didn't have an education past basic math and how to spell and yet wasn't forced to endure Wu's stupid lessons. He held the pencil in between his upper lip and his nose and wiggled it, imagining that it was a majestic mustache. It fell after a minute, and tumbled onto the floor before rolling across the room. Lloyd sighed and stood to pick it up, paused, and came up with an idea.

He wouldn't get in trouble for not doing his homework if he had to chase his pencil around the monastery, right? Lloyd kicked the pencil a little farther until it was right near his open door.

Hell yes. Hell fucking yes. This would absolutely work.

And so he went, kicking it forward with every step, loudly proclaiming a totally fake "oops" as he did so until it eventually tumbled into the courtyard where monks were busy painting gold onto various objects. Now surely Wu wouldn't be upset if the pencil just so happened to land on the button that activated the training mechanics. It would be an accident! Total mistake. Absolutely not intentional at all. Lloyd reared his leg back to send the pencil flying-

And fell backwards as a bright orange portal flickered to life in front of him. It fizzled threateningly in midair, and then flashed out of existence as a group of people dropped onto the ground.

They looked tired, eyes heavy and hair unkempt. They also kind of looked like a fucking mess of armor. Lloyd cringed at the sound their armor made as they moved. It was terrible.

"Clay!" One of them yelped, separating herself completely from the rest, "Are you ok? You didn't wear yourself out with that, right?"

Her answer came in the form of a guy who looked ten times worse than the rest of his group. His right arm was a sparking white mass that would occasionally flicker violently into other colors. All he gave her was a grunt, before struggling to stand up. Lloyd swallowed as the guy's gave fell on him, and the green ninja found himself staring into a part of bright yellow snake-like eyes.

"Uh-" Lloyd squeaked, "Hi?"

By now, the rest of the group was standing, however shakily. They were all wearing armor of different colors, except for two, both of which looked significantly younger than the rest of them. The guy with the yellow eyes squinted at Lloyd.

"Is this Ninjago?" He croaked.

"Y-yes."

"Great." And then he collapsed back onto the ground.


	3. Chapter 3

Clay was dreaming. Of course, bad things always tended to happen when he was dreaming. The technical term would be nightmares, but using technicalities sounded like too much to do at the moment. Instead, he was focused more on fighting.

The things that were attacking him were dark, horns reaching up into the sky and eyes glittering a violent purple. Everything they touched turned to stone, and Clay was forced to try and crack it with his sword to force his way through the crowd. It wasn't working. Clay felt a bead of sweat run down his back.

Why was it always him who was left to struggle in the dust, trying desperately to save everyone but hardly being able to save himself? Maybe it would be easier to fall back into the dark warmth of his corruption. Let it work for him, let the power surge through and save what he could before he was completely lost. He let his sword droop a little bit and relaxed, feeling his magic course through him.

So easy. It'd be so easy-

Clay jerked awake, chest heaving and stomach churning. He felt like he was going to puke, and dug his fingernails into the skin on his arms to root himself in place. It took him a second to even realize that there was something on him. Two somethings actually.

He blinked a few times to let his vision clear, and stared. Robin was curled up at his side, and Ava had her back to the wall with her legs resting on top of his own. They were sleeping. He relaxed slightly and sighed. They were sleeping, he had been sleeping, so where was everyone else? The last thing he could remember was arriving in Ninjago and… He shook his head and leaned back against the wall behind him. And then heard voices coming from the other side of it.

"So what you're saying is that we're fucked."

"Kai-"

"No Jay listen, if what they're saying is right then I have reason to swear! I literally could care less if you don't like the vocabulary I use. We're talking about the destruction of all of the realms here, in case you forgot."

The ninja. Clay pressed an ear up against the wall and closed his eyes to try and listen better.

"We don't have any reason to lie, guys." That was Aaron, "Our realm has already been practically destroyed. And it's… It's not exactly a thing that we'd joke about."

"No, we don't doubt you, it's just…" A new voice, a girl he didn't know, "It's a lot to take in. And we don't know how much time we have to prepare so- and I can't really speak for everyone- but I'm nervous. Scared."

Clay heard a hum of agreement pass through the rest of the ninja.

"Nya is right." That was the guy that had first seen the knights when they fell out of the portal, Clay frowned and listened, "But our fear is going to be something that will push us forward, not something that will hold us back. We want to help you guys get your realm back in order and help the rest of the realms stay safe."

Silence passed for a few minutes at that, and Clay grew uncomfortable. He should be in there talking, but as soon as he tried to move, Robin curled tighter into his side. Clay sighed, ran a hand through his hair, and squeezed his eyes shut.

It would be good to be in the next room over and talking with the others, but there were other people that needed him too. Robin and Ava were still torn up about leaving everything they knew behind. Ava was probably more hurt about Merlock staying in Knighton than Clay was, and Robin had had to leave his father. It wasn't easy on them, if anything, it was probably worse for them than anyone else.

Clay combed Robin's hair with his fingers for a second before pulling away and laying back down. He might not be able to get any rest, but he wouldn't move. Not now. He needed to let his siblings sleep.

The others would just have to be without him for a little bit longer. He heard a door open in the other room, and from where he lay he just barely perked up.

The voice was feminine, but strange and robotic. Like if ice could speak.

"Lloyd, we just got an urgent message from Kryptarium Prison." She said, "It's your father. He wants to talk."


	4. Chapter 4

The room turned dead silent after Pixal's statement, and Lloyd felt all eyes turn on him. In his lap, his hands clenched together for a half-second.

"What does he want?" He asked, snapping the words out and immediately regretting it as Pix flinched slightly. Still, her voice didn't waver as she spoke next.

"He didn't say, but he mentioned that it was urgent. I feel like he might know what has happened with our visitors. Granted, it's just a hunch."

Lloyd sighed at her words and stood, stretching a little bit and frowning to himself. It would be weird if his dad did know about the oni invading another realm, but it still wouldn't be the weirdest thing that he had done. For all he knew, Garmadon could be able to see into other realms whenever he felt like it and Lloyd would have no idea. To be honest, Lloyd still didn't know what powers the revival had given his father, so it wasn't out of the question until he learned otherwise.

With one hand, Lloyd flipped his bangs back into the rest of his messy, near-white hair, pausing to twirl a bit between his fingers as a nervous habit.

"Ok." He started, "We'll go see what he has to say. A-and we'll take the knights too. I feel like you're right, Pix. Don't want to risk them missing out on important information."

"Lloyd-" Kai stood up suddenly, crossing his arms and scowling, "Is there a point in going to see him? For all we know-"

"We don't know." Lloyd countered, "So we're going. It's not a trap, he's in the strongest cell they have over there."

"Quick question."

Lloyd turned as Aaron started talking, and watched as the archer joined Kai in standing.

"Is there a reason your dad is in prison? And like, a reason why we're talking about him like this? If it's more complicated magic family bullshit though-"  
"It is."

"Ah. That'll do it." Aaron gave a small snort of annoyance, "Jeez, practically every team leader I know has some sort of magic family bullshit going on. Kinda makes me jealous with how normal my family is."

A general murmur of agreement passed through everyone gathered, except for Nya and Kai, who only gave each other a look. A look that said that they raised themselves and even though their parents were alive, they weren't too keen on spending time together. Lloyd kinda got it. He had met Ray and Maya before, and they kinda sucked. Lloyd huffed.

"Probably because if we were in a TV show, we'd be the protagonists." he said, "But we're not and all we have to blame is the general shitty state of the world. Let's go."

* * *

((General author's note btw. Sorry for not uploading in like 6 months and then dumping all this on ya. But also to quote BDG; I'm not your friend, and you have no say over what I do with my writing))


	5. Chapter 5

So the good thing about Knighton is that there were basically no prisons. Of course there were county jails and smaller holding places for people who wanted to try and steal or cause trouble, but the only really prison-like prison that existed was the one under the castle. It was more like a dungeon, but with less torture and murder.

Not a lot of people were ever put in that prison. Really only one, and that was that weird italian guy who was hell-bent on trying to kill the king for whatever reason. And even then he'd be free if he'd just stop yelling at all the guards that passed by. His main fault was that he was annoying as hell.

This prison though? Yeah, it was an actual prison and Aaron wasn't sure if he liked it or hated it. The noise was a lot and in a way kind of reminded him of the constant chatter of his house. But the stench he could do without. And the general nastiness of the people he passed was something he wasn't sure if he enjoyed. At least he was doing better than Lance though. Lance looked like he was either going to faint or puke, and Aaron wasn't sure which one would come first. He hoped it was fainting, he didn't want Lance to ruin their reputation by barfing everyone.

They passed a cell full of snake-like people, and another full of literal snake people. Then there was this massive fucking cell holding a 20 foot guy, which just looked impractical. Regardless, all these different looking people only made Aaron more confused about what the hell Ninjago was full of and what the ninja had to deal with. Aaron almost pitied them. Almost only because he knew that they were able to handle everything anyway.

The man who had been leading them through the prison the entire time- talking nonstop and in general just being annoying as hell- finally stopped in front of a steel door held closed by thick steel rods. Macy gave him a look, and Aaron just shrugged. Lloyd had said that it had been some stupid family magic bullshit, and Aaron didn't even feel like opening that can of worms at the moment.

"Good luck, Lloyd." The front man said, inputting a code into a keypad off to the side, "And call if he, y'know. Tries breaking out or whatever. Not that he'd be able to! Haha, we've got the best security system in all of-"  
"Yeah. We get it." Lloyd said, cutting him off. Aaron laughed a little bit at the tone in Lloyd's voice, and passed it off as a cough when Macy shot a glare at him.

The bars to the door slowly pulled back, and a hiss of steam escaped as the airlock that kept the door in place released itself. As for the room inside of the door? Aaron could only see one spot of light in the middle of it. Which was either a good thing or a bad thing. He couldn't decide. Not for the first time, Aaron kind of wished that Clay were with them.

The floor began to slide forward from underneath them, shoving them towards the distant spot of light and closer and closer to the person inside. A person who, now that Aaron could see more clearly, had four arms and was in general very spooky looking. A sense of deja vu passed through the knights. The same sort of feeling they had had when they first met Ruina. The sort of "this is your leader's parent, and you're fucked" feeling.

Lloyd's father looked up as they approached, eyes a piercing red with bright yellow pupils. Hooked fangs curved up out of his mouth, and two small nubs that might be horns sat just above his brow. He was intimidating as hell. Aaron swallowed down a slight lump of discontent back into his throat, and watched as Lloyd's jaw tightened.

"Dad." Lloyd started, lifting his hand to chew on a fingernail, "What did you think was so important that you needed all of us here?"

He rolled his eyes, one pair of arms folding back behind his back and the other crossing in front. It would look weird if his general vibe wasn't one of murder and death. Aaron heard Lance inch back a little bit, and turned to raise an eyebrow at the white knight only to be waved off.

"It's not a matter of what I think is important." The man spoke, "Because due to who's with you, you obviously already know that the matter is important. The oni, the ones I warned you about? They're getting closer. You know this."

"So what?" This time it was Kai who spoke, "Is that all you wanted us for? To brag?"

"No. I called you because you won't be able to defeat them without me."

Silence passed for a few seconds, before total outrage on behalf of the ninja. Aaron was actually kind of taken aback by how against the idea they were. Though, honestly, Aaron couldn't blame them. Just based on how the guy looked, he felt like it would be a bad idea.

Macy spoke up as the yelling died down, "What exactly about us makes you think we can't hold our own!"

The man's nose wrinkled in annoyance. "Because you're here. You wouldn't be if you had been strong enough."

Aaron swallowed. He wanted to back Macy up but… the fact of the matter was that they had been too weak. If it weren't for Clay, they'd be in the same situation as everyone else in their realm. Petrified. He chewed at the inside of his lip, looking down at the ground. They were here to ask for help, because they hadn't been strong enough.

"Give us time to talk to Wu about it." Lloyd finally said, snapping Aaron out of his thoughts, "But right now, our answer is no."  
"Very well." Was Lloyd's Dad's response, "But you're being foolish. You'll be back."

As the group left the cell, Aaron had a slight sense that the guy was right. He just wished when they got back to the monastery that Clay would be awake.


	6. Chapter 6

Clay was trapped.

Not literally, of course, but in a less literal sense of the phrase. He had tried to see if he could train in the courtyard, and Robin had promptly sat on him. And then Ava had joined Robin in crushing their brother. His legs were cramping up and all he could do was vaguely grumble about "a knight's duty" and other nonsense. The monks in the courtyard were probably confused by it all. Clay kind of didn't care.

"So we get the ninja to help," Robin said, rolling onto his back and kicking his feet idly in the air, "And we go back and beat up all those monsters! We can handle it with a little help! Right?"

"Right." The answer came from Ava, who was busy braiding a small lock of hair. Clay wasn't allowed to respond.

Silence followed. The only noise was the awkward shuffling of the monks walking around and gilding random parts of the building exterior. Clay wished someone would speak up because he was kind of losing his mind. Luckily for him, one of the sliding paper doors slid open.

A droid- or, well, he assumed she was a droid- stepped through, taking a moment to adjust her massive pauldrons. Her hair was silver, like Zane's, but tied back up and into a ponytail. She stopped for a second as she noticed them, her glowing green eyes squinted for a moment.

"Ah." She finally said, "Apologies, I had assumed that you were still resting."

"He is." Ava replied, "We're keeping him from doing something stupid like overworking himself for the millionth time."

Clay grumbled at that. Sure he tended to overwork, but that was a totally healthy amount of overworkage! If he passed out he would probably just be fine in a day or two. Probably.

The droid just shook her head a little bit and laughed, "Yes, I know what that's like. Keeping others from hurting themselves is hard. Especially when they seem drawn to trouble. But you two sure are working hard at keeping him still and I can appreciate the effort. Clearly you care."

A frown crossed Clay's face, "Don't I get a say in this?"

"No." Ava kicked him and rolled off of his lap, pleased that there was finally someone who was willing to take her place in babysitting her older brother. And then she kicked Robin too, just for the hell of it. The cry of annoyance that came from him was a just reward for her efforts towards annoying her siblings, and she'd take it in stride.

After the kick was given, Robin sat up and pouted. Though, he could agree with Ava on one thing. "You don't get a say in it because the last time you got a say about your wellbeing, Aaron ended up having to drag you back to the Fortrex! Anyway."

Robin cut himself off to turn and look at the droid, his eyes lighting up, "You're like Zane, right? Are you friends with him?"

"You could say that." She replied, smiling fondly, "Though, I guess we'd be considered a little closer than friends by now. I'm Pixal, by the way. I don't suppose Zane talked about me while he was away with you, did he?"

Robin's smile widened, and he opened his mouth to reply.

Only to be cut off as the monastery doors slammed open. Plot has to happen, you know.


	7. Chapter 7

"How close are we?"

"Close enough."  
"Yeah, but in terms of timing, Ruina. I'm a busy man and I-"  
"Shut up!" Ruina finally snapped at the chunk of glass in her arms. It pulsed once, then dimmed. She sighed.

Half a day of walking towards the capital had lead to nothing but complaining from Monstrox and tired feet. The cities that they had passed through had been empty, with only the darkened stone remains of the inhabitants. If she weren't busy trying to figure out where the Nexo Knights were and what was going on, she might be a little sympathetic.

She paused for a moment, hearing something flutter through the air overhead. The harpies had also been kept from turning to stone, probably due to the fact that they were already petrified. They had been scouting ahead. Hopefully they had something actually useful to share.

After a couple more seconds of vague rustling noises, Ingrid finally dropped down to the ground. Her sharper, more angular build made her faster than her sisters, so she was the one that Ruina had sent to scout the furthest.

"Well?" Ruina said, "Anything?"

Ingrid flapped her wings once and nodded, "Oh yeah. There's a whole bunch of these weird looking things up ahead. They've got big horns and hooves, massive teeth too! All sharp and stuff."

Ruina frowned slightly. So the cause of all of this _was_ due to something not of this realm. At least, as far as she could tell. Nothing in Knighton could do what had been done, and nothing looked like what Ingrid described them to be. Granted, it had been a bit too long since the great extinction so maybe there was something she was forgetting.

"What have your sisters found?"

"Not much," Ingrid replied, "Everything's stone. It's not exactly interesting."

"And KrakenSkull?"  
"I haven't seen him. I'm sure he's looking for you though. With everyone gone it's easier for us to come out and talk to each other."

And just like that Ruina's frown turned into an outright scowl. She had been hoping that that coward and his beast would show up sooner rather than later. Whatever they were facing, having his extra power would've been nice. Even if his entire army had been destroyed by her son, which she still refused to apologize for and was still proud of.

Obviously though, KrakenSkull was too busy hiding his face in the dirt like the weakling he really was. He could hardly keep his head on without someone to hold it there for him.

"Fine." Ruina said after a moment of scowling, "You can go back out now. Obviously nothing is happening."

Ingrid nodded and laughed a little to herself, "Of course! Just one more thing before I go back out though."

"Yeah sure, what is it?"

In a flash of purple, Ingrid's body shape melted down into a massive, black creature. White markings covered its face, and long hooked fangs peered out of its mouth. It grinned at Ruina's startled expression.

"You're coming with me!"


End file.
